Gall Force: Project Exodermus
by Quanto
Summary: The Paranoids and Solnoids work together on a solution to end their thousand year war. Commander Dawn and a young Junior Lieutenant Catty Nebulart work together to devise a plan that could finally create a third sentient race.
1. Chapter 1

Gall Force: Project Exodermus

By Jason King

Based on the Gall Force Series by Movic

Part I

Commander Dawn sat in his ready room as he poured over the datapad handed to him by his adjutant. The old Paranoid Commander's alien face changed from generally expressionless to something of genuine concern. He turned to his adjutant. "All six of them died?" He asked him quizzically.

The adjutant shuffled his mechanical exoskeleton slightly as his yellow eyes darted about, "Y-yes sir. At the moment our intelligence probes have yet to get any useful information from the Solnoid medical team that examined them. It seems that the Solnoids are even more in the dark with what we are doing than we suspected they would be. What's even more disturbing is that it seems they know even less about their own anatomy than we do."

"So there is nothing useful we can get from them that would allow us to correct any mistakes?" Dawn asked as he stood to stare out of the room's observation windows. The Paranoid Homeworld hung serenely in space, the great fleets of its children protecting it from their Solnoid enemies. If there was anyplace more comforting to look upon, Dawn could not think of it.

"No sir, unfortunately there is little chance for us to get anything at all without the Solnoid Central Guard finding out about it."

Dawn sighed as he sat back down. He looked upon his desk, in a moment of quiet contemplation. "What of the reports of the Solnoid System Destroyer?"

"Its confirmed sir, they've just completed one and they claim to be prepared to use it."

"Leader Journey talking like she has the advantage again, huh?"

The Adjutant chuckled slightly, "Yes, sir. Leader Born was very quick to reminder her that we have two though."

Dawn's expression went from humorous to very grave, at least for a Paranoid, "Both of them are going to doom us all to extinction if they keep this up."

"Excuse me sir?" The adjutant asked him, rather perplexed.

"No, its nothing. Good work, Dran."

The adjutant's gill-like mouth began to tremble as if he were about to say something then he paused for a moment and then bowed. "Yes sir." He turned to the door leading to the ship's bridge and left.

Dawn leaned back in his commander's chair, unsure of where to take the project next. It seemed to have already run into a dead-end, and so early in its trial phase. He looked about his ready room. On one wall were all of his awards and decorations for many years of distinctive service to his people. The wall curved inwards towards the ceiling and down to the opposite wall, where he kept his souvenirs from previous campaigns. So many long years of service, so many years of fighting, and yet, just as all of the previous Paranoid Central Intelligence Commanders, he felt trapped in a nightmare he would never escape. Only this time, with the threat of the Planet Destroyers, and now the System Destroyers, it seemed as though the nightmare was coming closer and closer to its horrifying conclusion.

Mutually Assured Destruction, it was a term created by the Solnoids. To add an even greater irony to their new term, they further shortened it to MAD. It seemed so fitting even to the old Paranoid Commander. Madness was the only thing that could have brought the two galactic super powers to this point.

There had to be an escape. Even the crazed Paranoid Leader Born had recognized the severity of the threat that MAD posed. It was this very realization that lead to Project Exodermus in the first place. And it was Commander Dawn's Experience in intelligence gathering and research that landed him smack in the middle of the whole project.

Two years it took them to get to the point they were at now. All of the experimentation, all of the wasted resources, and the wasted lives. Dawn could still remember the shrill deafening screams made by the Solnoid captives as they tried to learn as much about their anatomy as they could. It was out of those torturous six months that Dawn finally discovered what he had been looking for; the secret to the old form of Solnoid reproduction. A strange cavernous organ that produced a number of inert cells once a month. It was this that clued Dawn in as to how he would merge the Paranoid race and the Solnoid race into one, and hopefully end this costly war.

Of course, there would be complications. As Dawn suspected, the two races were so completely different that a simple "Cross-Breed" would be impossible. And to further complicate things, the paranoid possessed no such ability to create the cell necessary for a proper reproductive reaction. And on top of it all, the Solnoids that he and his personnel tried questioning about the cavernous organ, knew nothing of it or about it.

Dawn couldn't blame them though, the war had been raging for over one thousand years, there hadn't been a "Male" Solnoid in nearly as much time, of course they would forget.

It was times like these that he wished he could simply revert back to his gelatinous state and simply ooze in one place. The overload of misinformation and sudden news of initial failure was starting to grain down upon the old commander. Either they would have to find a new solution or he would have to report directly to Born on their failure. Such an action would almost certainly be catastrophic.

He stood up from his chair and was about to walk out of the room when his adjutant stormed back inside. "Sir!" He bowed hastily, "forgive my intrusion, but our bug in the Solnoid medical facility has been discovered."

Dawn could feel all of his fears coming down upon him at that very moment. He reached up and braced himself against the wall with his left arm as he prevented himself from falling to the floor. He righted himself and looked directly at the adjutant, "How? What happened?"

"We haven't been told yet sir, but the Solnoid reaction is nothing less than we would have expected. They are of course enraged."

We can all most certainly imagine that you moron, Dawn thought to himself. "Have all links cut off; I don't want them tracing the transmissions back to our ship."

"The link was already severed sir." Dran handed Dawn the report.

Dawn took it and threw it to his desk. "We can't tell high command about this Dran, do you hear me?"

"Sir?"

"Have all personnel involved with the intelligence gathering mission put in lockdown, I don't want this leaking out in any way shape or form."

"But sir, Leader Born will surely want to know the progress of the project."

"Tell him it has been scrapped, for logistical reasons." Dawn knew it would be a poor excuse, but with any luck the Leader would be preoccupied with plans of countering the new Solnoid System Destroyer.

"So am I safe in assuming that we will be canceling further contact-point missions?"

"No. The project will continue in secret. From now on, we operate under our own discretion; the High Command no longer needs to know about this project."

"Sir I don't understand. What you are saying is treasonous."

Dawn dwelled on his adjutant's words for only a moment, "No, Dran, this is for our survival. If the Solnoid Intelligence traces that bug back to us, I want to make sure that it doesn't get all the way back to High Command, this project cannot be abandoned at any cost."

"Then sir, if you don't mind my asking. What will we do next?"

"Continue with the project, we have to have at least one successful contact out of this." Dawn turned to his desk, stopped and turned back to his adjutant, "Make sure that our next batches of contact-points are thoroughly screened for genetic incompatibility this time. I don't want any failures on our next run."

"Yes sir." Dran left the room in earnest as Dawn returned to his desk.

He lifted the datapad which contained the latest intelligence report, then crushed with all the strength his metallic exoskeleton could provide. No one outside of his immediate command would know of this project. The crushed glass and plastic fell to the floor in scattered bits. Dawn breathed deeply as he looked down upon the floor. There was not turning back from this path he had chosen. History would remember him as either a hero, or a villain; nothing more, nothing less. He knew deep inside that what he was doing would be the best hope for his people's survival, the only thing that bothered him now was the Solnoid equation, and it was the Solnoids who would either make or break the entire project.

He turned his chair around, and looked outside at his Homeworld. He gleaned over the many ridges and craters of his battle scarred planet. Strangely, the Paranoids were able to continue their civilization on the battered world, cities and military installations littered and filled every crater. He lay back in his chair and drifted further into thought. "If only it were possible to get the Solnoids involved cooperatively."


	2. Chapter 2

Gall Force: Project Exodermus

By Jason on the Gall Force Series by Movic

Part II

Solnoid Medical Crews were abuzz with activity, the most they had been in many years. Six Solnoid crew-women had died under mysterious circumstances, all of them by what seemed to be a heart attack. It was a puzzle for many in the autopsy room, but what bothered them more was the discovery of a Paranoid surveillance bug located in one woman's ID Badge.

However, it wasn't the bug that had brought a young Lavender Haired Lieutenant, of the Central Intelligence Science Team to the autopsy station. It was a foreign organism discovered in the vestigial organ in the abdomens of each Solnoid. Catty was under orders from her department head to find the makeup and source of the organism and try to understand its connection to the Paranoids. With her she brought two armed guards, "I am Lieutenant Catty Nova Nebulart of Central Guard Intelligence, this facility is now under the complete control of the Central Guard, all non-Central Guard personnel are required to leave immediately."

The room cleared out in an orderly if not rushed manner. After the last of the non-essential personnel had left, a steady procession of Central Guard Science and Intelligence technicians entered the room, bringing with them many various instruments and equipment unique to the Central Guard. And finally, Catty's department head entered the room. Captian Dianea Galliean was a tall imposing Solnoid but also appeared to be uncharacteristically compassionate for a member of the Solnoid Central Guard. Catty too ended her "tough act" and hurried towards her commander.

"The room is clear of any unauthorized personnel, we are now free to act under our own discretion, Admiral."

"Great work Catty, now what is it they discovered here that High Command doesn't want to leak out?"

"The cause of death ma'am, it looks like some kind of new biological weapon the Paranoids are using."

"Is it a virus?" Captain Dianea asked.

"No, it looks like some kind of parasite, but it doesn't show any signs of having a means to survival, almost like it was just barely into larval form."

"So your saying that it wasn't actually a fully developed organism?"

"Yes, however we need to examine it further. I've ordered some transmat crews here to have the organism removed for us to study it further." Catty motioned to the transmat technicians to begin their work.

The Captain left the room and motioned for Catty to follow. In the hallway outside, Captain Dianea pulled out the captured Paranoid bug. "I need you to scan it's memory and try to find any traces to where it was transmitting and what. Whatever the Paranoid are doing, there has been no precedent, I want to know as much as possible."

Catty took the bug from Dianea's hand, "I'll get that information within the hour."

Dianea smiled, "I know you will, don't let us down."

Catty nodded and put the bug into a carrying case that was lying on top of a nearby cart. She saluted Dianea and proceeded to the nearest computer room. 

The long hallways of the Solnoid Intelligence Compound on Marsus were sterile and angular in design, much like the interior of many Solnoid Starships. Catty approached a transit terminal and keyed in a string of commands. The door to a small transport pod opened and Catty took a seat. Two lower ranked Solnoids sat in a seat across from her. They both eyed the case she was carrying. It was clearly marked "Top Secret" in bold red Solnoid lettering along its side. They glanced at it for only a moment and pretended not to notice.

The pod whizzed through several corridors and after a moment or two of uncomfortable silence, the door swung open. It was Catty's stop, she grabbed the case by it's handle and proceeded out the door. The transit station for the compounds Computer and Networking center was always crowded and Catty had difficulty navigating her way through the traffic of bodies and robots. The crowd grew thinner in density as she made her way closer to the main computational center. She approached another keypad locked entrance and entered her personal command codes. The glass door swished open and she walked inside. The main center was a large cavernous nervous center filled with sound of Solnoids tapping away at the keypads of the twenty or so terminals surrounding a great column-like structure in the center.

Catty grabbed a key-card from a small locked cubby with her name and rank over the top. She left the main central area and approached one of the side offices. She slid the key-card across a reader next to the door and it opened. It was sound proof and while glass, the glass would turn opaque when in use. Inside the office was a computer terminal much larger than one of the many outside. It buzzed to life upon sensing Lt. Nebulart's presence. Before taking her seat, she reached over to a smaller keypad to her right and entered some commands. A small hatch opened underneath and Catty unlatched the lock on her carrying case. She took out the bug and placed it inside the hatch. The computer, sensing the new device sitting in the small hatch, dispatched several wires which appear to move on their own. They probed the Paranoid device for access ports and found them. Immediately the Paranoid user interface from the bug sprang to life on Catty's terminal screen. She took her seat and began tapping away at her keyboard. Eventually, the computer was able to translate the Paranoid text to that of a much more readable Solnoid. The bug's interface was not too different from the other's Catty had cracked into, but what was different was how well the bug's transmission logs were hidden.

After an hour of difficult and tedious code breaking and hacking, she was finally able to find the logs. But upon reading many of them, she was shocked with how narrow and specific the bug's intelligence gathering orders were. Little attention had been given to anything outside of general Anatomical data and Solnoid Medical Knowledge and Procedure. Much of it pointed to what they had speculated was a Paranoid plot for some sort of Biological weapon, however, there was also little attention given to actual Solnoid vital signs by the Paranoid robot. It was truly the most interested in actual Solnoid Medical Procedure. _Odd. _Catty thought to herself.

After printing and saving as much of the logs as she could, she then went on to trace the transmissions themselves. Catty knew that no matter how much the Paranoids could try to keep their transmissions from being traced, there would always be some residual data left over that would clue them in. This data as it turned out, was actually easier to find than the logs themselves. After piecing all of the lost bits of data together, Catty was able to trace it back to the Paranoid Home System, but not to their Homeworld itself, rather, it was traced to a Paranoid Destroyer, the "Damoth."

Catty smiled to herself. Captain Dianea will be very happy. She saved the last pieces of data to her memory tag and pulled it from the main terminal. From there she pulled the bug from the main interface hatch and placed it, and the memory tag, into the Top Secret Case. She latched it closed and proceeded to leave the computer station.

Seven hours had passed and little else was found or known as the actual cause of death in the Six Solnoid soldiers. It was as though they simply dropped dead. It was also determined that the "things" discovered in their bodies would not have actually caused any damage had they been allowed to continue their cellar division. Captain Dianea waited impatiently for the DNA analysis to return. However, she was pleased to discover that her trusted Lieutenant Nebulart had not only been able to get the bug's logs but was also able to trace the link back to a specific Paranoid ship.

Normally, the standard procedure after obtaining such information would have lead to a dispatch of the Second Central Guard fleet, and the Caucasus would have disposed of the Paranoid forces there. However, two things prevented such action; first, the ship was still in orbit around the Paranoid Homeworld, and nothing would be able to penetrate the defenses around that planet. The risk was especially not worth _one_ Paranoid Ship, a destroyer no less. But the second reason, and to Dianea, the more important reason, was her simple curiosity. Why would the Paranoid so blatantly break from their standard procedures over a scientific operation that seemingly had no military gains to be had from? What do the Paranoids know that the Solnoids didn't?

The Captian didn't know what to make of the situation and all she could do was want to learn more from it. Fortunately, she knew exactly who to send to find out…


	3. Chapter 3

Gall Force: Project Exodermus

By Jason King

Based on the "Gall Force" Series by Movic, and the Manga Shorts "Privates Live!" and "Blue Sister" by Kenichi Sonoda

Part III

Lieutenant Catty Nebulart lounged casually on the couch in her quarters, half dressed and sipping on a glass of Iced Tea. Her lights were dimmed and the room was silent. It was moments like these that she simply wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet and let her mind wander for hours at a time. But she found little in the way of comfort or peace in this evening's session of zoning out.

Whatever the Paranoids were up to, she was completely unable to make heads or tails of it. All of the evidence the medical and the Intelligence teams were able to gather were inconclusive, and didn't point towards any previously known Paranoid SOPs. Catty reached down to take another sip from her Tea only to find it empty save for a few flavorless icecubes. Disappointed, she returned the glass to the table and laid back, putting her feet up while avoiding the empty glass. She sighed deeply just as the silence was broken by the urgent knocking of someone in the hallway outside.

Slightly startled, she got up to answer the knocking only to realize she was wearing only her panties and a T-shirt. She looked around hurriedly for her pants, upon finding them she attempted to pull them on while rushing to the door at the same time. Nearly falling over in the process. When she was sure the pants were fully secure around her waist, she proceeded to push the button that controlled the door's autolock. On the other side was Captain Dianea Galliean, who peered inside with a bit of bemusement, both at the state of Catty's room and also at her state of obvious undress. "Was I interrupting anything?" she tried not to smirk, but wasn't sure of her success in the matter.

"No, not really Captain, would you like to enter?" Catty too tried to hide her embarrassment but wasn't sure of her success either.

"It would be nice." This time she did grin a little.

Catty promptly moved out of the way and attempted to remove the random bits of uniform and undergarments from her floor and into a nearby laundry basket.

"So," Captain Galliean started as she maneuvered around Catty's mess "what do you think we should do about this new little problem."

"I promise Captain, my room is not normally like this, you just caught me in the middle of an 'off' moment." Catty scrambled and stuttered.

This time the Captain did laugh. "No Lieutenant, not your quarters, I'm talking about our Paranoid friends. What do you think we should do about _them_."

Catty stopped, realizing how silly she must appear to her superior at the moment. She smiled and dropped the current bundle of clothes into the basket. Some garments remained on the floor, but her attention was no longer focused on her room's state of disarray. She sat down in the armchair perpendicular from the couch now being occupied by the good Captain. "To be honest ma'am, I don't any idea right now about what we could do."

"None at all?" Dianea inquired.

"Well," Catty paused, "none that follow our typical Standard Operating Procedure."

"Lieutenant, nothing we've seen today follows the Standard Operating Procedure." Dianea huffed as she eyed the former glass of Iced Tea, which was little more than cold water by that point.

Catty sighed, realizing what her Captain was getting at, "Nothing I've thought of has been done before. And to be honest, its incredibly dangerous."

"Well? What do you have in mind?" Dianea was getting annoyed with Catty's lack of directness.

"What if we were to simply _ask_ the Paranoids what they are doing?" Catty suggested while avoiding eye contact.

The Captain gasped and laughed at the same time. It was at this point she couldn't blame the young Intelligence officer for being so dodgy. That was indeed a crazy idea.

Catty noted Dianea's reaction, "See?"

Dianea gathered her composure and planned her reply, "Well, you are right, it's never been done before. But how exactly do you plan to put such an idea into action?"

"Plan?" Catty would have fallen out of her chair if it wasn't so large and sturdy when compared to her petite frame.

"Yes," Dianea stared at her subordinate, "did I stutter?"

"I can't say that I've actually thought about beyond the mere suggestion. I've only just had the evening to sort things out. But in all seriousness, I don't know if it can actually be done."

"I'll be the judge of that," Dianea replied. "Now go on…"

"Well, what if we were to go about simply asking them what they are doing, it is obvious at this point that even though six Solnoids are dead, nothing we have seen so far points to a weapon, biological or otherwise. Their surveillance drone we captured was only monitoring medical practices. That in itself is a curiosity…"

"Indeed it is."

"So what if we asked them what they wanted to know and actually offer the information to them?"

The idea was truly an absurd one, to both of them. Catty was bothered simply by thinking it. Dianea for hearing it. The very concept of communicating with a Paranoid for any reason went against the grain of everything both of them were indoctrinated to think from the moment of incubation at the birthing centers. But then again, work in Solnoid Central Intelligence often went against the grain of Solnoid Doctrine.

"Catty…" Dianea started.

"Yes ma'am?"

"What if I gave you the go ahead? Would you be able to get this accomplished? An actual line of communication with Paranoid Intelligence?"

Catty sat silently for a moment, but it seemed longer to both of them. "It would take me a while longer to determine the finer details ma'am, but I am fairly confident I can get the job done."

Dianea scanned they young woman for a moment, "I am sure that you will, I have plenty of officers on my staff, but for some reason I keep coming to you to get things done." She grinned wryly.

Catty accepted the compliment with a reserved smile.

Dianea lifted herself from the couch and stepped around the coffee table. Before opening the door, she turned back to Catty. "I expect a full and thorough Intelligence Strategy on my desk by 1600 hours tomorrow. Oh and I also want you to make good on your promise."

Catty stared confused for a moment.

"I never want to walk in on your room like this again." The Captain clarified.

The young Lieutenant snapped to and acknowledged her orders. "Yes ma'am. I apologize ma'am."

Dianea smiled, "Good night, Catty."

"Yes ma'am."

The door closed and Catty let out a small sigh of relief. She slumped back down in the chair and thought quietly to herself. It wasn't easy being the Captain's "go to" officer.

After recollecting her thoughts, she pulled herself out of the chair once again to resume cleaning her quarters, which in actuality were not that dirty beyond a few undergarments strewn about. Catty was nearly finished and ready to call it a night when another knock on her door interrupted her. "Honestly" she huffed as she dragged her feet back to the door.

On the other side was a tall dark figure, hair slightly unkempt, out of uniform, and a long scar down her left eye. "Rica!" Catty cried in relief.

"Yay, I've been wondering where you were, I haven't seen you all day, you weren't at lunch, or dinner. You didn't even bother to visit me this afternoon!" The tall tanned woman entered the room.

"Well, I had a lot of work to do today. They kept me busy the whole time," Catty sighed.

"Yeah I thought something was up when all you Intelligence spooks were up and about. Usually you are all hiding behind your desks." Rica quipped.

Catty resumed her cleaning while shooting an indignant glance at Rica. "I'll have you know, I did no such thing today."

"Yeah I heard, you got to hang around a bunch of corpses today."

As much as Catty hated the way Rica would refer to things, she couldn't help but agree with her, both in fact and in tone.

"It wasn't exactly my idea of a day well spent." Catty Admitted.

Rica walked over and grabbed her Lavender haired friend by the waist, pulling Catty down to the couch she had already spent a lot of her evening on. "Well, I can help you feel better." Rica whispered wryly as she rubbed the small of Catty's back. "Damn, you _are_ tense."

Catty let out a tired sigh, she was going to turn Rica down this night, but considering all that she went through, and all that she would have to do tomorrow, the warmth of another body didn't sound so bad this night. Rica bent down slightly to kiss Catty on the lips, and, instead of playfully resisting as she usually would, she opted instead to let Rica take her prize with nary a fight. This confused the taller woman for an instant but latter decided to take the gift graciously.

The night was still young and the young Lieutenant decided take advantage of it for a change. "All work and no play…" she purred between kisses.

"That's my girl!" Rica laughed…


End file.
